Here’s a little anti-spin on the Hitwise numbers that just came out showing that MySpace still rules social networking in the U.S. (See Duncan’s earlier post). Hitwise says that MySpace commands a 72 percent market share of visits to the top ten social networking sites, while Facebook has only gained a 16 percent market share. I find the way Hitwise discloses its data to be confusing—72 percent of what exactly? Why don’t they just tell us how many people they think visited the site? We can do our own math.
Any way you slice it, the numbers are surprising. Isn’t Facebook supposed to be on a rocket ride? So I decided to look at what comScore has to say on the matter of MySpace versus Facebook (not that they are perfect, but at least they give an actual estimate of how many people they think visited a particular site).
The numbers on comScore corroborate that Facebook is still lagging MySpace, but not by as much as Hitwise would have you think. In December, comScore reports that MySpace had 69 million unique visitors compared to 35 million for Facebook. That would give Facebook about half the market share of MySpace, not one fifth.
Maybe by”visits,” Hitwise means page views. Again, the comScore numbers confirm that MySpace is trouncing Facebook in the U.S. with 38 billion page views in December 2007, versus 13 billion for Facebook. Even so, that gives Facebook a third as much “market share” as MySpace. Of course, Hitwise data and comScore data are apples and oranges because they’ve been collected using different methods and different sources. I offer this more as a gut check.
Regardless of what data better reflects who is winning the social-networking race in the U.S., the real story is happening elsewhere. A peak at the global comScore numbers (as of November 2007) produces this doozy: Facebook has nearly caught up to MySpace with 93 million unique visitors worldwide versus MySpace’s 105 million. And in minutes spent on the site, it has actually surpassed MySpace with 21 billion minutes for Facebook versus 17 billion minutes for MySpace. (Although, it is still lagging in page views, 42 billion to 48 billion). The Web is a global game, and MySpace might be about to lose it.
I see why I visit techcrunch less and less each day. I am freakin’ tired of the Facebook hype. Can’t you guys find some emerging and innovative technology companies to talk about. I use to love TC but my infatuation is dying slowly.
Anybody remember orkut?
Erick,
Do you read Techcrunch?
Yes, seriously.
I thought I read a similar article in Techcrunch minutes before.
The last thing I want is a repeat.
I concur Niyaz…
Why couldn’t this post be an update to the last?
This is not a double post. It is an anti-post.
Is it true that Peter Thiel is moving to NY??
“That would give Facebook about half the market share of Facebook, not one fifth.”
Shouldn’t it be ” That would give Facebok about half the market share of MYSPACE, not one fifth” ?
How does TC beat recession and keeps post coming - see below.
Duncan: “Hey, Erick, I am going to write about MySpace and Facebook”
Erick: “Great, I will write a rebuttal of your article then. Phew, I was wondering what I would write about today”
Michael: “Great! If the folks get mad at the two of you, I will write a post swearing at them. They are idiots anyway - give them a crunchie pass if they complain too much!”
Arrington, get someone who knows how to read webstats. It’s a skill like reading a balance sheet or map folding. Schonfeld, when Hitwise says “visits” they mean “visits” not “page views”. I think some basic ed on common definitions is in order here. Take some time out and take a 101 on web stats. Please!
Facebook probably has less pageviews from all the ajax.
Hey slipboy, how about you go read the Drudge Report ya hippy?
Duncan Riley would never sensationalize or misconstrue data. His 30-45 seconds of research were enough to tell the story, so just leave it at that!
Facebook=35 mil =1/3
Myspace=69 mil =2/3
Facebook % = 35/(69+35) = 30% and that is not counting
Google=?? maybe 50 mill users. Why are some people so ass clown shubert allowed to write stuff
Facebook and MySpace posts on this site always get a lot of traffic. Every social network will turn into Myspace…because they all are supported by ads and get greedy.
So Facebook continues to grow in Bulgaria? Big Deal.
Personally, I find Facebook far more interesting than yet another website taking an existing popular idea, making a cheap copy, paying people to visit it and acting like it’s a revolutionary new idea. Although that’s “interesting” in the sense that driving a good distance behind someone who’s clearly p-ed as a newt and waiting for them to crash is “interesting”.
Facebook will be far above Myspace very soon. Sure.
Marc makes a great point, visits are not page views… theoretically, a single person can create only one “unique visit” in a month (we call these uniques), but that same person can be responsible for multiple “visits” in a month or in even in day (normally a “visit” that you see reported is defined as all visits made with-in a 30-minute time-frame… so leaving a site and coming back 4 minutes later is still only one “visit”). Page views, well those are self explanatory.
@9, go tell that to Hitwise. It defines visits as “online traffic.” That could mean either unique visitors or total traffic (page views). It does not specify. Hitwise is vague on the subject.
@13, 35 million is half of 69 million (comscore numbers)
16 percent is one fifth of 72 percent (Hitwise numbers)
I am not trying to compute an overall market share from the comScore numbers, just compare the relative strength of Facebook to MySpace.
i actually think Erick’s post is on target. the Hitwise #’s told a story that didn’t appear to make sense. his further analysis tells the more likely story of how Facebook isn’t as far behind MySpace as the earlier #’s suggest, and in fact might even surpass MySpace in a few areas.
as to the # of FB-related posts, i’m continually astonished at how you commentards don’t seem to get that FB and MySpace and Google and other platforms *ARE* the ecosystems in which other internet startups play, and are required reading to understand what’s happening.
if you’re a geek and/or entrepreneur trying to figure out the lay of the land with new tech startups & where the opportunities are, it’s pretty fucking essential you have a clue about what’s going on — or *ISN’T* going on — with the other big platform players.
if you’d rather keep your head stuck in the sand, then go play Scrabulous before it disappears.
I’m a little anti-facebook. I have an account, and I don’t HATE it, but (in my circle of friends) there are sooooo many more people on myspace. When I look at facebook, all I see is a big clusterf*ck and 3286749826109256 application-add invites. NO I DON’T WANT TO BE A ZOMBIE, NO i DON’T WANT TO SEE WHO VOTED ME “A HOTTIE”, NO I DON’T WANT TO TAKE YOUR STUPID MOVIE QUIZ, AND NO I DON’T CARE WHICH SWEAR WORD I AM.
Myspace will always have love in my heart.
Probably a lot of those visits are people signing in to delete porn spam mail. That’s pretty much the only time I log in, and there’s got to be thousands of others like me.
Read this about Facebook - You won’t believe all of this stuff that is going on!
http://www.thetechbrief.com/20.....-facebook/
look at comscore numbers on FB demographics prior to socialads then due your own comparitive analyses - guess what comescore is over 500% off in some segmens and 157% off overall - net - comscore does not know anything